Yesterday's Gone
by seize the kush
Summary: He knew it was demented, that's why he'd never actually admit how he felt. He could handle sitting back, just looking and not touching. He got his touches elsewhere. But he was wrong. He couldn't handle it.


_A/n: With the very appreciated help of TillThatTime (best dark dasey writer ever!), here is my very first Life With Derek fanfiction. it will be dark dasey in later chapters, so that's always good. Enjoy! more chapters to come!_

The McDonald-Venturi family (all but Casey and Lizzie) was gathered in the London International Airport, waiting for what seemed like a lifetime. Nora and Marti were standing, looking into the crowd eagerly while George, Derek, and Edwin were sitting in a near by sitting area, each of them sharing the same bored, lifeless expression.

Finally, not a second too soon, Nora jumped with excitement and clapped hysterically. "There they are! There they are!"

"Finally," Derek mumbled as the guys got to their feet.

"We've only been waiting for two hours." Ed added.

"I can't see them." Marti complained, and just like she'd planned, Nora bent down and picked her up.

As Nora pointed them out to his little sister, Derek followed her line of site and sure enough, there they were. Casey and Lizzie were hurrying towards their family, smiling and waving. Derek chuckled and rolled his eyes. _Great, here we go again. The vacation is officially over,_ He noted silently to himself.

"Hey, mom." The girls said together, hugging their mom at the same time.

"Yay, my girls are home! How was New York?" Nora was clearly the happiest one there.

"It was awesome!" Lizzie replied. Casey smiled and nodded in agreement, stepping away and giving her step-dad of barely 2 years a slightly awkward hug.

"Hey Casey, did you have a good summer?" George asked.

"Casey!" Marti screamed from the side of her, and before Casey could react she jumped into her arms.

"Hey, Marti." Casey laughed, hugging her little step-sister. "Yeah, it was really fun." She replied to George.

"Good." George laughed at Marti's enthusiasm and turned to Lizzie, who had become a lot more comfortable around George than Casey had. She quickly pulled him into a hug, giving him a beyond excited greeting.

"Geez Marti, I missed you this summer." Casey smiled down at the little girl.

"I told you that you'd miss me before you left, but you just didn't believe me," Marti said matter-of-factly.

Casey laughed and sat the little girl down before moving on down the line. It kind of surprised her when Edwin took a step towards her and gave her a hug. He wasn't much of a hugger. He got it from Derek.

"Wow Edwin, you really grew up."

"Yeah, so did you." Ed said, having yet to pull away from Casey. She got a grossed out look on her face and pushed him away from her. Edwin and Derek just laughed, and Casey got a questioning look on her face before she turned her attention to her arrogant, skirt chasing, scam-artist of a stepbrother named Derek Venturi.

She sighed, not knowing what to do. "Derek."

Derek sighed, mocking her, "Casey."

Casey raised her eyebrows as if to say 'well, that's it.' and turned away from Derek to see George watching the two of them and Lizzie talking everyone else's heads off about their trip.

"That's it?" George said, trying to hold back a laugh. "You guys haven't seen each other all summer! Give each other a hug. Be a family, for once."

"Dad, no." Derek, unlike his dad, didn't hesitate to laugh.

"Why are you always so rude? Just give your sister a hug."

Derek and Casey stared at each other for a second, as if they were silently discussing it, before Casey edged her way towards Derek, who let out a deep, reluctant sigh before wrapping his arms around her. After a quick second they pulled away.

"That was nice," Casey said sarcastically, turning and walking away without even a look in Derek's direction. "Come on, Liz, let's go grab our bags so we can get out of here."

"We'll go with." Nora said, grabbing Marti by the hand and following her daughters. "You are never leaving me alone with them ever again." She added in a quiet voice. The girls laughed.

Derek ran a hand through his hair, watching as Casey stood feet away at the baggage claim, laughing and talking with her mom and sister. He was pretty surprised at how much she changed over the 3 month period she was gone. Her face was a little more mature, her hair was longer and he couldn't tell what, but she'd definitely done something different to it.. He licked his lips, thinking about how much her body had filled out. She didn't even need it, she was gorgeous before. But now… Her curves were more curvaceous and an hour glass figure, her skin looked even softer and tanner then it did. But mostly what he noticed was her luscious, firm, undeniably supple--_-Whoa! Whoa. That is enough; we're not going there again_, Derek reminded himself, tearing his eyes away from his stepsister.

He really couldn't help it, and he seriously didn't like it. But what did people expect from him? He never claimed to be a Saint, and Casey was an incredibly hot dancer that just happened to sleep in the room right next door to his. And she was in no way, shape, or form blood related to him.

He knew it was demented, and he knew it was practically incest. That's why he'd never actually admit to anyone how he felt, and he never actually planned on acting on it. He got plenty of girls; he could just sit back and watch her walk about in those sexy little skirts she liked to wear. He could handle looking and not touching, he got his touches elsewhere.

But he was wrong, he couldn't handle it.

George hurried over to help the girls get their bags and seconds later he waved over in Derek and Ed's direction.

"Let's go home." George said, knowing that sounded like heaven to the exhausted boys. Nora had the entire family cleaning all day and night for Casey and Lizzie's welcome home family night. Derek shuttered at the idea of spending an entire night at home with those whack jobs. If it was up to him it would be family kegger night, but you know how that stuff goes.

Casey sat in her much missed bedroom, in front of her very much missed vanity mirror, curling her hair and singing along to Jack Johnson, which played loudly but softly from her new CD player that her dad had just bought her.

_Loves just a waste of our energy, yea  
And this life's just a waste of our time  
So why don't we get together  
We could waste everything tonight  
And we could waste and we could waste it all, yea_

Derek passed by her room, glancing in on his way to the bathroom. Seeing her there, in front of the mirror, all dressed up and caked in makeup, he chuckled. Walking in without her permission, he rubbed his hands together expectantly.

"Well I guess some things never change." He smirked. Casey finished curling her last strand of hair and tossed it over her shoulder, finally turning to face Derek.

"Yeah, you still seem like an egotistical jerk to me."

Derek turned back to look at her CD player, confused and ignoring her sassy remark. "Since when do you like Jack Johnson?"

Casey didn't answer him; she just grabbed some lip-gloss from her make-up bag and proceeded to get ready.

Derek rolled his eyes, "aren't you getting a little carried away there, Case? You're just hanging out with the family tonight."

Casey got up from her table and went over to the jewelry box sitting on her dresser.

"I'm not staying home tonight. I have a very important date with Max."

"You say that about every date you have with that guy." Derek reminded her.

"Hey Derek, have you by any chance noticed that I'm trying _not_to talk to you?" She questioned snidely, arching a fine eyebrow in the process.

"Nope, can't say that I have." He lied.

"Well it's true. You see, I'm at a really good place in my life. What with Max, my friends, and my job. School is starting next week and I'm pretty sure that this is going to be the best year of my entire school career."

"And what does that have to do with me?"

"Well, the only way for me to ensure that happens is if I just completely ignore you and your selfish existence. So… Bye."

Derek looked from side to side, his eyebrows furrowed. He laughed, realizing what she was saying. "Wow, that's a really good idea, Case. We should have done this two years ago." He stated simply, walking out of her room and shutting the door behind him.

Casey checked her appearance over once again and gave herself a confident smile. "Best year ever." She repeated.

* * *

"You're breaking up with me?" 

"Uh… That would be another way of putting it, yeah."

Casey sat in the passenger seat of Max's car, her jaw dropped as she stared at him.

"But… I don't understand. We just spent a really romantic night together. Why are you doing this?"

Max sighed, looking down at his steering wheel and away from Casey's saddened eyes. "I don't know, I guess… I just… Look, a lot of stuff happened to me this summer, and I just… Need out." He was clearly struggling with words, but Casey was having an even harder time comprehending the situation. This was the last thing she expected.

"What kind of stuff?" She insisted.

"Nothing. Look, it's just stuff people have been pointing out to me. My friends, other girls, hell even my parents. Casey, you're amazing. You're beautiful, you're funny, and you're like unbelievably smart. But you know me way too well, it's getting a little scary."

Casey drew her head back, no longer looking at him with a worried expression but now she looked like she was just ready to punch him in the face. "What are you talking about?"

"Remember that time you called me from New York, and you just somehow magically knew I was wearing my blue shirt that you don't like?"

"You said you weren't wearing it." She reminded him.

"I lied."

"I knew it!"

Max looked at her accusingly, "I'm sure you did. That's exactly what I'm talking about. It's just… Sometimes I feel like I'm dating my mom or something." Seeing the hurt look on Casey's face, Max shrugged, "Sometimes." He added.

Casey sat back in her seat, taking in a deep breath. Max knew what this was. It was Casey, after all. She probably was getting ready to rip his head off but now she's trying to settle herself down, reminding herself of who she is and that she needs to handle this like a mature adult.

_Okay Casey, calm down, _she mentally patted herself on the back. _This is just another one of those things that you can't control. You just need to handle this rationally, calmly, and with a level head. You'll get through this, you're Casey McDonald! _

Casey looked over at her now ex-boyfriend, forcing a smile onto her clearly confused face. "Well Max… I guess you've already made up your mind." She reached for the door handle and opened it, stepping out on to the curb.

"Casey, wait a sec---"

"Oh, yeah," Casey reached into her purse and pulled out the bottle of perfume that Max had given her as a present, tossing in his lap. "That stuff reeks, I wouldn't suggest giving it to your next girlfriend. Do you really like girls that smell like a ninety year old woman going to Bingo?"

At that, Casey closed the car door despite Max's pleads for her to stop. A second later he peeled out, leaving Casey on the curb, arms folded across her chest, freezing, forced to do nothing but stare until the red glare of his taillights were out of site. She wiped her eyes before the tears could fall.

Breaking up with the guy she'd spent the last year of her life with was the last thing she expected, but for Casey McDonald, it was the first thing she got. Her mind blank but racing all at once, she turned and slowly made her way to the front door of her house.

"Worst year ever."

Little did she know, it was only the beginning.


End file.
